Consider this scenario: You need to be away from home for a number of days, perhaps for work or even to take a vacation. But you also have an elderly parent who relies on your support, and routine is important to them. What do you do?
It’s actually a quite common question, and addressing it and other, similar concerns is the mission at Bayshore HealthCare.
Regarding this set of hypothetical circumstances, for example, Bayshore’s Area Director Lisa Newman says her staff could provide in-home care during the time required and customize it to align with the client’s routine.
“Even though you’re not present, the regular routine is still there,” she says. “We’ll work with the clients, their families and other caregivers who may be involved to ensure we’re coming up with a safe, consistent type of care in the home environment.”
A private, licensed healthcare service, Bayshore is an agency that provides in-home support to more than 350,000 patients nationwide. Its approximately 14,000 employees offer traditional nursing services, such as medication administration, intravenous therapy, dressing changes, pain management, post-surgical care and foot care, as well as companionship care, palliative care and personal care services from light housekeeping to bathing and dressing.
“We’re able to provide services that you might not be able to get from other agencies in Winnipeg and the surrounding area,” Newman explains, adding that the breadth of Bayshore’s national resources means it can even customize therapies for specific conditions, such as MS.
On top of Bayshore’s high-quality, personalized home healthcare services, clients and their families greatly appreciate a level of control in the care they receive that they might not get elsewhere.
“Being a nurse who works in the community and works closely with clients, I see it a lot where they feel like they don’t have control over what is happening to them, especially when it comes to chronic diseases and comorbidities,” says Taylor Sigurdson, a Registered Nurse with Bayshore. “When someone doesn’t have a say in how they receive healthcare, it causes a lot of extra stress. Our model is designed to help give them back some of that control.”
Based out of Winnipeg, Bayshore HealthCare has been receiving more and more requests to operate outside the city and in other centres such as Steinbach. It’s an expansion they’re keen to make, but in order to make it feasible they first need around 100 commitments from clients in the southeast.
“We want to be able to answer this call to action and say that we hear you! We’re here! We want to be able to provide that care and service,” says Newman. “But we also have to say, ‘This is what we need from you’.”
Sigurdson adds that there is certainly a goal to expand to Steinbach, and prospective patients and their families or other caregivers in the region should know that Bayshore can provide everything from transportation to meal prep to more comprehensive care strategies.
“There’s a lot of things we could touch on to support patients in their homes and help keep them there longer,” she says.
“We want to be able to be the primary connector of care for your family members and loved ones,” states Newman. “The connections we make with communities and families are key. That’s what our goal is.”
Bayshore HealthCare can be reached by calling 204-815-5860 or emailing the organization securely at wpgprivategroup@bayshore.ca. Their range of services can also be browsed on their website under Winnipeg Bayshore Home Health.